Jovana Cvetićanin
Yugoslavia and the Eichmann Trial
2020 | Full access
This study investigates the role played by the Yugoslav state and its media in the Eichmann trial, an aspect that has not been dealt with before. Yugoslavia had a unique position in the Communist world, being at the crossroads between East and West. It was the only country in the Communist circle that had diplomatic ties with Israel and cooperated with the Jerusalem Court.
By unfolding the role of one unique state – Yugoslavia – the study adds a new dimension to the Eichmann trial. Consequently, in the realm of virtually uninvestigated field of research of the roles played by different European countries in shaping the trial, the study fills the gap in the historical narrative of the trial.
Based heavily on uninvestigated archival records and newspaper articles mainly from Serbia, the study explores in detail the Yugoslav-Israeli cooperation in the process of the trial preparation and the specific requirement of the Yugoslav government to include the crimes of Andrija Artuković in the trial. It then examines the “result” of this cooperation. Fully focused on the German occupation zone – much of the modern-day Serbia – and on the Independent State of Croatia, the study investigates the case of Yugoslavia in the Jerusalem courtroom and concurrently addresses the narrative of the Holocaust in the above-mentioned parts of Yugoslavia as it emerged during the trial. The research further explores the attitude of the Yugoslav establishment towards the Eichmann’s affair, and the trial in Israel through the Yugoslav state-controlled media coverage.
Yugoslav authorities, unlike many other countries in the Communist bloc provided an active and eager assistance in the process of material collection, which resulted in one-third of the evidence being used in the trial. Simultaneously, Yugoslavia aimed to “secure” new evidence for Andrija Artuković’s extradition from US and required his incorporation in the trial. Analysis of the results of Yugoslav-Israeli cooperation indicates that the focus given to Artuković and Eichmann in the courtroom blurred the Croatia’s collaboration with the Nazis, as well as the other historical facts significant for comprehensive understanding of the Holocaust in Yugoslavia. Finally, the Yugoslav government sent five observers and five journalists to follow the trial and report on it. Full public support of Eichmann’s abduction and the trial in Israel was expressed in an exhaustive Yugoslav media coverage of the trial, highlighting the Jewish victims from the very beginning of the reporting. Thus, the study clearly proves that the Yugoslav state and media were actively involved in the Eichmann trial, and that the trial itself was of great significance to the Yugoslav state.
Further research of Yugoslav media in the period of the Eichmann trial is needed for the complete comprehension of the specific Yugoslav position towards the Holocaust within the context of the Communist world in the period of the Eichmann trial. Also, the investigation of the impact the media coverage and the post-trial writings of Yugoslav reporters had on the whole Yugoslav Holocaust narrative needs to be explored.
Supervisor:
Prof. Hanna Yablonka